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‘It’ll come back,’ says Judy. ‘Do you remember anything else?’
‘I remember being in Leo’s car then in a dark place, voices all round me. I saw Ruth and Hecate.’
‘You mean Kate.’
‘I know what I saw.’
When Nelson arrives back at the waiting area, still reeling from his journey into the past, Ruth’s sister Zoe is there. Nelson approaches her cautiously. There has always been a constraint, almost a mutual distrust, between them.
‘Have you heard how they are?’
‘A nurse has gone to check.’ Zoe doesn’t meet his eyes. People say she looks like Ruth but Nelson can never see it.
‘I’ll wait with you.’
‘There’s no need.’
But Nelson sits down next to Zoe. He takes out his phone and texts Michelle. He forgot to do so earlier but he doesn’t think Michelle will be worried if she wakes up in the night to find that he’s gone. She’s been married to a policeman for nearly thirty years.
He wonders how many times he’s been in this situation, in a hospital waiting for news. There was the time when Ruth was in a car crash. That was Cathbad’s fault too, come to think of it. There was the time when Nelson was shot. Ruth and Michelle had both waited for him on that occasion. When he’d heard that, Nelson was glad that he’d been unconscious. Except that a tiny part of him wished he’d been there, to hear what they’d talked about, what they’d said about him.
‘Are you here for Ruth Galloway?’
A nurse is smiling at them. She looks more fresh-faced than Nelson would be at this time of night. It’s nearly two a.m.
‘Yes,’ say Nelson and Zoe.
‘There’s a possibility of a broken rib so the doctor has sent her for X-rays. Nothing to worry about, though. Kate is fine. No ill effects at all. Children bounce, don’t they? Does one of you want to go and wait with her?’
Nelson and Zoe both say that they will.
‘I can only let one of you go up. Who’s next of kin?’
‘I am,’ says Zoe. ‘I’m Ruth’s sister.’ And she follows the nurse through the swing doors without a backward glance.
Chapter 34
Tuesday 22 June
‘Seems to me that we’re no further along.’
Nelson is in a bad mood. He knows it and the whole team knows it. Leah gives him a sidelong glance when she places his morning cup of coffee in front of him. Even Jo seems to choose her words carefully when she demands an update on last night’s events. Nelson tries to fight it. He praises Lucy and Tanya for their work last night. Lucy had received a round of applause when she entered the incident room. She blushed but looked pleased, flashing that sudden smile. Nelson still thinks Tanya should have called him earlier, as soon as she knew Ruth and Katie were involved, but there is no doubt that she handled the occasion efficiently. Ballard is in custody and Cathbad is safe. Tanya says this now, sounding rather aggrieved.
‘But we’re still no closer to solving Emily’s murder.’
Ballard has been charged with false imprisonment. Tanya and Bradley have interviewed him, with Nelson watching via video link. Ballard admitted locking Cathbad in the mine three days ago and trapping Ruth and Kate there. When asked why he did these things, he replied ‘no comment’. His solicitor had nodded approvingly.
‘Ballard must be guilty, surely?’ says Tanya. ‘Otherwise why did he want Cathbad out of the way?’
According to Judy, Cathbad can’t remember anything between visiting Tony and finding himself underground. The doctors say that it’s all to do with his condition– something to do with Long Covid– but it’s still very annoying. But Nelson thinks Tanya is right. Cathbad must have telephoned Ballard after watching the CCTV footage at Tony’s flat. Ballard picked him up in his electric car, took him to Grime’s Graves and somehow tricked him, or coerced him, into entering the abandoned mine. Why? What had Cathbad seen that made him contact his old friend? Why had Ballard behaved in the way he did?
‘We should keep an eye on the others today,’ says Nelson. ‘Tom, Amber, Emad and Mark. They’ll all be at the funeral.’
Emily’s funeral is at eleven o’clock in Lincoln. Tanya and Bradley are both attending. In their black suits they look out of place amongst the casually dressed civilian staff, like undertakers on a beach. Nelson is planning to go too but he’s in his shirtsleeves, his black jacket on the back of a chair.
‘Are you coming, boss?’ says Tanya, as she prepares to leave.
‘You go on ahead,’ says Nelson. ‘There’s something I want to do first.’
